Facebook might be moving away from the location-sharing map within Nearby Friends, but WhatsApp seems to be testing a similar feature on its beta app.
Facebook recently added a “wave” feature on Nearby Friends, but took away the location-sharing map showing you exactly where your “nearby friends” were. This move not only makes Nearby Friends a whole lot less “creepy,” but it also shows that Facebook is somehow responding to its users’ privacy concerns. Despite this, the company is testing a similar new feature on WhatsApp – “Live Location Tracking” – real-time location-tracking between friends in a group.
With Live Location Tracking turned on for a chosen time period (one, two or five minutes), a select few friends can see exactly where they are. This is particularly useful when there are many people trying to find each other to meet up. The fourth option, “Enabled Indefinitely,” is exactly what it implies.
2.17.3.28 iOS | 2.16.399+ Android: Live Location feature, that tracks the live location of other group participants (DISABLED BY DEFAULT). pic.twitter.com/pYEXT1nxyR
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) January 26, 2017
Live Location Tracking was first reported by WhatsApp Beta Info on its Twitter account just last week, before being picked up by Fortune and other publications. It is not being tested widely, with only a small amount of people using WhatsApp’s beta app – specifically version 1.16.399 on Android, and 2.17.3.28 on iOS.
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